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Orlr
Population: 5,070 (80% Slaves of Various Races; 15% Beholders; 5% Drow Elves) Government: Puppet Dictatorship Religions: The Great Mother, Gzemnid, Lolth Imports: Slaves, Magical Items Exports: Slaves, Magical Items, Ore, Gems, Fish Alignment: CE – NE - LE Life and Society In Orlr, there are two castes- the Beholders, and the Slaves. Ironically, even the Beholders are slaves, though they do not realize. The Hive Mother rules with absolute authority. The current Hive Mother is Unca (19 HD Beholder). All other Beholders, no matter how weak or powerful they are, and all other Beholder-kin, no matter which kind, obey the Hive Mother. Unbeknownst to anyone- including Unca, and the Hive Mothers that came before her- Mabel Yohd, a “quasillithid” secretly influences the major decisions of the Hive Mother. So, in effect, all Beholders are slaves themselves. The actual slaves live a miserable lifestyle. Controlled by Beholders, and Beholder-Kin, they toil away endlessly, with no hope at escaping their current situation. Slaves make up the standing army of Orlr, and though no force has challenged Orlr in it’s history, and the leaders of Orlr have not gathered the entire army, slaves always have that worry on their mind. Slaves are constantly coming and going, for various reasons. The main reason why slaves are constantly needed is because of the high rate of death in the Slave’s Quarters. The Slave’s Quarters are filthy, disease ridden, and have a high murder rate. When people are desperate, they do anything to survive, and that include killing fellow slaves. The Drow slavers, who occasionally patrol the “city within the city”, often kill slaves for no apparent reason, as do Beholders sailing through the city, looking for workers. Slaves belong to no individual Beholder. Instead, each slave belongs to the city itself, and is mixed into a communal slave pool. Beholders and Beholder-kin come and go, picking out the slaves they want for each task they are given. Some Beholders are more caring about their slaves than others, though no Beholder or Beholder-kin ever extends ‘kindness’ or ‘civility’ to their inferior slaves. Major Organizations House Kyordil The Knuckle-Crushers The Ocular Adepts Major Geographical Features Orlr is located within a large cave, in the Underdark. It is not known whether or not this large cave is natural, or if the first residents of Orlr chose it, and then hollowed out using the Beholder’s Disintegration beams. The Eye-Spire Tower rises from the center of the cavern, while the Slaves’ Quarter sits around it. The Slaves’ Quarter is surrounded by water, making the entire city difficult to access without means to sail across water, or over it. Eyes of the Deep, aquatic Beholder-kin, patrol the waters around the Slave’ Quarters, preventing slaves from swimming to safety. Important Sites Eye-Spire Tower Slave’s Quarters Chamber of Mabel Yohd Regional History The early history of Orlr is unknown to even the Beholders. Whenever asked, the leaders of Orlr simply say that they were always there. They often then terminate those who are inquiring. The most important event to occur in Orlr was when a group of Beholders brought a particular slave into the city long ago. This slave called itself Mabel Yohd. A Beholder sentry party happened upon the young man in the wilds of the Underdark near the city. With moderate arcane strength, and fledgling psionic abilities, the unfortunate Yohd fought back. However, he was not able to successfully defend against the swarm of Beholders. They incapacitated him, and brought him back to Orlr as a slave. Yohd became a communal slave, and quickly rose through the ranks of the slaves. All of this time, he was developing his new-found psionic powers, which he gained after the Illithids of Cerrecere performed strange experiments on him, turning him into a Half-Illithid abomination. He eventually gained the attention of the Beholders, who saw more than an ordinary slave in Yohd. They saw in him an Ocular Adept, a former slave who serves the Beholder rulers in interactions between the city and outsiders. Yohd enjoyed his newfound freedom, and continued developing his psionic powers. While exploring some caverns near the city, and testing the limits of his psionic powers, Yohd successfully dominated his Beholder escorts. Returning to the city emboldened, Yohd began planning to dominate the rulers of the city. After dominating the rest of the Ocular Adepts, Yohd met with the Hive Mother. Employing his psionic powers to their limits, Yohd was able to successfully break the will of the Hive Mother, and control the creature. He blended back into anonymity in the Ocular Adepts, but secretly was controlling the Hive Mother. Word soon spread to Orlr that the Dark Cabal of Sephir was planning to invade the mainland, using tunnels connecting the island to the mainland in the Underdark. Azariel Daetheter, the second-in-command of the Dark Cabal of Sephir, would be leading the army personally. Daetheter was an accomplished wizard, and was no pushover. The path the army of the Dark Cabal was taking was not heading directly towards Orlr. But, Mabel Yohd had a personal vendetta against the Dark Cabal. He was once the apprentice of Jord Bastillion, the third in command of the Dark Cabal. Bastillion cast Yohd through a Time Gate, which is why Yohd ended up in the Underdark to begin with. Summoning the link he had to the Hive Mother, he commanded her to gather the slaves and warriors of the city, to repel the advancing army. The battle was fought in the general vicinity of Orlr. The forces of the Dark Cabal were decimated- their reliance on magic was their downfall, as Beholders naturally produce Anti-Magic fields. The human, goblin, orc, troll and ogre slaves were no match for the forces of Orlr. Shortly after stymieing their forces in the Underdark, Yohd decided to extract revenge against his former master, Jord Bastillion- who in the meantime had become the leader of the Dark Cabal of Sephir, since both of his superiors had been either killed or imprisoned. With an escort of Beholders and Ocular Adepts, Yohd traveled to Bastillion’s fortress in Sephir. Yohd promptly dealt with his former master, imprisoning his spirit in a gem, splintering the gem- and Bastillion’s spirit- and casting the shards into different planes of existence. Finished, Yohd returned back to Orlr. For reasons known only to Yohd, he hid himself away in a secret chamber underneath the Eye-Spire Tower, and put himself in suspended animation. He has slept there for centuries, still controlling each Hive Mother that comes into power. It was Yohd who allowed the Drow House Kyordil to settle on the outskirts of Orlr. Orlr continues living in semi-isolation.